The prosecutor in his indictment requests a year in prison for Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, for the crime of sexual assault after the non-consensual kiss that the Granada leader gave to the player Jennifer Hermoso during the celebrations of the last women's soccer World Cup. In addition, the prosecution also requests an additional year and a half in prison for the crime of coercion. For this last crime, the same sentence is also requested for Albert Luque, sports director of the federation, for the former women's coach Jorge Vilda, and the marketing director Rubén Rivera.
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Luis Rubiales in the National Court: “I am not a superior, the kiss was consensual; "I grabbed her because her hands stayed up there."
The prosecutor's office also requests that the four defendants be prohibited from communicating with Jennifer Hermoso, as well as a prohibition on approaching her or remaining in her vicinity within a radius of 200 meters for seven years and 6 months in the case of Rubiales and four years in the cases of Luque, Vilda and Rivera. In addition, the prosecutor requests that the four be specially disqualified from working in the sports field during the time of their sentence. Rubiales and Vilda are already outside the federation. Luque and Rivera, who remained in their positions, have been removed from them until there is a judicial resolution. The federation issued a statement this Wednesday in which it ensures that it will commission a forensic audit in which all responsibilities that may arise from irregular conduct and decisions will be resolved.
The description of the events that occurred between August 20 and 26, 2023 and on which the prosecutor bases his request to convict the four defendants is devastating. Once the non-consensual kiss occurred, the prosecution's brief states that “given the personal and professional consequences that could result, the accused Luis Rubiales, by himself and in connivance with the rest of the accused, began to exercise constant and repeated acts of pressure directly on the player Jennifer Hermoso and through her family and friends with the aim of publicly justifying and approving the kiss that Luis Rubiales gave her against her will.”
The first act of pressure on Jennifer Hermoso occurred when Rubiales called Ana Álvarez Mesas, director of women's football at the RFEF, to go into the locker room and order Jenni Hermoso to leave because she wanted to talk to her. The player agreed and Rubiales has already urged her to make a public statement about her acceptance of the kiss received. Jenni Hermoso responded that she did not agree and that she had no obligation to make any type of statement.
The pressure on the international continued on the return flight, in which, according to the prosecutor, Rubiales ordered Jorge Vilda to contact Rafael Hermoso. The intention was for him to convince his sister to make a video during the planned stopover in Doha that would exonerate Rubiales. “Vilda warned Rafael Hermoso that if her sister did not agree to participate in the video, this would have negative consequences for her, both personally and in her professional career as a soccer player,” reads the letter. accusation.
Once the corresponding tributes had been held in Madrid, the players went on vacation to Ibiza. There Rubén Rivera and Albert Luque entered the scene to continue the harassment and coercion of Jenni Hermoso. Rivera first insisted the international speak with the federation's integrity director Miguel García Caba. He had opened a file "in which it was intended, by order of the accused Luis Rubiales, his exculpation of any responsibility in said area, forcing the statements of those involved to be changed and providing partial experts in his favor." Hermoso refused to talk to García Caba and Rivera insisted through a friend of the player, Ana Ecube, who had traveled with her to Ibiza.
Albert Luque also played the trick of Hermoso's friend to try to exonerate Rubiales. The prosecutor's letter even describes a blackmailing attitude of the federation's sports director: “The accused Albert Luque insisted through WhatsApp, personally to Jennnifer Hermoso and through Ana Ecube for Jennifer to talk to him. Finally, given the resounding refusal received, Albert Luque sent several WhatsApp messages to Jennifer's friend, insisting on his request for help to justify Luis Rubiales' behavior, expressing his anger, alluding to the fact that the player, due to her age, He had two years left in his career and that if he helped him at this moment he could surely get him a position in the federation, accusing Jennifer Hermoso of being a bad person, wishing her that she finds herself very alone in life and announcing that he would be happy if that happened. .
Rivera and Luque's coercion ended when FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales on August 26. What happened between August 20, the day of the non-consensual kiss, and the 26th “created a situation of anxiety and intense stress in Jennifer Hermoso that lasted for several months afterwards,” concludes the prosecutor.
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